sneak peek: lotta nieminen

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a thing for small living. So nothing makes me happier than seeing small living done stylishly. Illustrator, graphic designer and art director Lotta Neiminen points out, “When you look for an apartment in New York, you generally need to leave out one of out three: location, rent or size. I wanted to live in Manhattan, and had a fixed budget when moving in, so that left me with leaving out size.” I’m sure Lotta’s European upbringing (she’s from Helsinki, Finland, and you can see her first sneak peek here) helps in making the most of a small space. She wanted something cozy, which to Lotta meant lots of natural light. Since moving to New York, her style has been colorful, both in terms of decorating and clothing, and it’s always interesting to see how those trends are reflected in her work. Thanks so much to Lotta and to Dan McMahon for the photos! — Anne

Image above: I wanted to select furniture that would keep the apartment feeling as big as possible – hence, a glass tabletop for the desk/dining table. Because I didn’t have room for much furniture, I wanted all the pieces to be very special and things I’d want to keep for the rest of my life. The Compass table legs are by Matthew Hilton, with a glass tabletop custom made in a nearby glass shop in Chinatown. I had coveted the Fredericks & Mae arrow for a long time, and it was one of the first things I got for the apartment.

Image above: I tested several throws, but it turned out that the only thing that kept the apartment looking remotely big was keeping it white. The bedside table turned bookshelf was a midnight street find on the way home from a party in Williamsburg.

See more inside Lotta’s Manhattan flat (including a floorplan!) after the jump . . .

Image above: I had a frame and couldn’t find a poster for it, so I made a collage from papers in my favorite colors. I spent more than half an hour at a local paper shop pairing up the best shades. The vase is from Chinatown, and the rococo-style table was a street find.

Image above: A mirror between the two windows made the space feel bigger. I found the frame at a flea market, and had it made into a mirror.

Image above: Fruits are as nice of a decoration and feel as good as flowers.

Image above: I saw a branch lamp online and was on the hunt for the perfect branch for a long time. I finally found it during a jog by the East River. An old Ikea lamp wrapped around it worked perfectly.

Image above: Hanging out my favorite clothes makes me happy whenever I see them and also acts as a color pop in the apartment.

Image above: The wooden balls are a work in progress. I’d like to paint them a few different colors and display them on a shelf. They were a gift from a friend, whose husband used them as props on a shoot.

Image above: I think feeling at home is all about details, no matter what the size of the apartment. The little glass box is from West Elm, home to a little airplant and a good luck fox given as a gift by a friend from his trip to India.

Image above: The apartment is the smallest I’ve lived in, but as soon as I came in, I knew it was meant to be; to me, light matters way more than size. Given the location, it acts more as a super cozy hotel room; all the nearby restaurants and bars feel like extensions of the apartment. The carpet is by the Finnish manufacturer Tikau, with an illustration by Klaus Haapaniemi.

I love this! I used to live in a similar sized studio in Amsterdam. It’s all about making the most of the space you have while at the same time filling it with your personal things and style.. Great job!

Your first sneak peek got me hooked on Newwork magazine. Love this style evolution with all of the bold, bright colors! Especially that pillow on your bed and both pairs of shoes — where are they from?

I love it! So much style in a small ( but precise ) sized flat .
I´m from Chile, and it´s been a while since the rents of the apartments just increase their prices, so the small sized apartments are the only way to live on your own with a medium rent job.
I´m looking a place for rent like the one in this post, for me and my little daughter, and this photos gave me beautiful ideas of how pretty a small place can be.
Thank you for sharing!

This looks simply beautiful. But then I find myself questioning if it’s just the camera making it look prettier than it actually is? Whenever I try to add lil details, say a twig that holds a bulb as a night lamp , it ends up looking, ummmm Bad, cheap…. Maybe it’s just me… not artistic enough!

Love what you did with the space! I used to live in NYC and know what a challenge it can be to make a studio apartment feel like a cozy home without overcrowding it with lots of stuff. Keeping everything mostly white with pops of color here and there definitely helps to make the space feel much bigger than it is.

I love small spaces, this decoration is very beautiful. I loved this. I’m very happy to be here. I really like your blog, it’s all very beautiful, congratulations! I invite you to know my blog decoration.
My blogs: evasabbado.blogspot.com.br
greetings from Brazil.

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